Salem is taking the publishing world by storm. Over the next few months, bookstores will be seeing a rise in novels based in Salem, MA. The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry (William Morrow, August 2008), Sisters of Misery by Megan Kelley Hall (Kensington, August 2008) and The Heretics Daughter by Kathleen Kent (Little, Brown, September 2008) all focus on life in the same, small New England town that is steeped in tragic history.

This is an exciting trend that will only increase the amount of attention that this particular corner of our world already receives. There is movie buzz already for all three books and each one deals with a different aspect of Salem’s vibrant history. The Lace Reader and Sisters of Misery are both modern day stories with hints to the influential and ever-present history and The Heretics Daughter is an historical novel.

They are all novels that are being given a large presence in their respective publishing houses. The Lace Reader was a self-published novel that received one of the largest advances for a self-published novel, Sisters of Misery is launching Kensington’s young adult line and The Heretics Daughter was one of the most talked about books at Book Expo America with Little, Brown giving out an extraordinary number of galleys to booksellers.

USA Today just ran a piece in today’s paper about this exciting trend in literature. Check it out!